San Jose City Council considers plastic bag ban

SAN JOSE, Calif. 
San Jose could become the largest California city to ban disposable plastic bags.

The San Jose City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a measure to ban single-use plastic bags and bar retailers from giving away paper ones. Retailers could charge customers for paper sacks to encourage use of reusable ones.

The proposed ordinance would take effect Jan. 1, 2012.

But plastic-bag makers oppose the ban and say their product is fully recyclable and can be reused in many ways.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that San Francisco banned plastic bags in 2007, and Palo Alto, Oakland, Fairfax, Malibu and Los Angeles County have approved similar measures.

State legislation to ban plastic carryout bags from grocery and drugstores died this year for lack of support in the Senate.